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Ex Hex is Mary Timony, Laura Harris, and Betsy Wright. They are a power trio hailing from Washington, DC, making the music you've been waiting for. Drums, bass, guitar, P90s, searing leads—this is unapologetic rock 'n' roll spat out in the discipline's mother tongue.

Mary found Laura Harris (The Aquarium, Benjy Ferree) and they hit it off immediately. Laura is a monster on drums: intuitive, solid, and just a bit rough around the edges. The pair played together for a couple of months in a tiny carpet-lined practice space shared with half a dozen hardcore bands and what appeared to be the better part of a B.C. Rich Mockingbird.

In walked Betsy Wright from the wilds of Virginia. She and Mary have similar tendencies, both defaulting to denim and The Voidoids. Betsy is a performer and an ace piano player, and before long, she was slinging a cherry SG as the third member of Ex Hex.

The group played a handful of shows and a couple of months later, in the spring of 2014, headed into the studio. Working furiously, they recorded over the span of two weeks in North Carolina with Mitch Easter (Let's Active) and in the basement of Mary's home with frequent collaborator Jonah Takagi. Bobby Harlow (The Go, Conspiracy of Owls) was tapped to mix because of his unique take on making rock records.

Sheer Mag's logo looks like the cover of an early hard rock record—all-caps font, jagged lettering. It seems appropriate, then, that at the outset of their 7" opener "What You Want", there's a guitar line with the same approximate structure as the central portion of Kiss' "Strutter". It's a fleeting-but-important moment—within the first few seconds of impact, they emphasize the "power" half of power pop. They bust out guitar solos that fly high. Their singer spits out words like, "What you want? What do you want me to do?," seemingly delivered more out of frustration than desperation. That tinge of anger—heard both in their vocals and their scuzzy junkyard guitar sound—is the perfect complement to "What You Want"'s swooning, power chord-driven melody. It's that ideal balance between sweet and sour. The track, one of four very good ones on their new 7", is an exciting introduction to this Philadelphia band.

"Fans of the late, great Blood Feathers (or, if you are a truly old head, Aspera) may have recognized the sweet, dulcet Petty-ish tones of one Drew Mills opening up last night's sold-out War On Drugs show at Union Transfer. And indeed, that was he, resurfacing for his first gig under the moniker A.M. Mills, with the above track going online this morning. "Wreckin' My World" is the first public offering from a full album of stuff in the can recorded by Terry Yerves and mixed by Quentin Stoltzfus (Mazarin, Light Heat). Mills is currently sorting out plans for the record's release and booking some local gigs. Keep an eye out for this one." -Philebrity